Not Only In Texas....ALL ER's Abused

"Frequent Fliers"

They are why, when you or your family member is hurt or really sick, it seems to take forever to get some help. They overload an already overloaded system daily. If you were to check, you'd find that ambulance companies transport many of these people also...because they know that if they arrive via EMS, they get right in - a warm cot, maybe some food and lots of attention.

Primary care docs don't want them - no money in it. Mental Health services are underfunded and overwhelmed. So the answer? How about instead of raising taxes, we get rid of a bloated HHS system and spend the money on actually helping these people?

clipped from news.yahoo.com 9 patients made nearly 2,700 ER visits in Texas AUSTIN, Texas – Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients. The average emergency room visit costs $1,000. Hospitals and taxpayers paid the bill through government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, Kitchen said. Eight of the nine patients have drug abuse problems, seven were diagnosed with mental health issues and three were homeless. Five are women whose average age is 40, and four are men whose average age is 50, the report said, the Austin American-Statesman reported Wednesday.

How True..... How Sad.

clipped from my.yahoo.com

WTF????

Personally, I think the builders/owners can call it anything they like....but as a normal American, it will always be the 'Freedom Tower' to me. This Tower isn't about "one world"... it's a reaffirmation of our Freedom.

What amazes me is that they would think the old name would be more palatable than Freedom Tower. It's like naming a child the same as one who died previously....ghoulish.

clipped from news.yahoo.com Outcry after new Ground Zero tower loses 'Freedom' NEW YORK (AFP) – The owners of the skyscraper being built at Ground Zero ran into controversy on Friday with the decision to strip the building of its patriotic unofficial name "Freedom Tower." The Port Authority announced that the planned 1,776-foot building, now barely above its foundations, will instead be known by the same name as one of the twin towers destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: One World Trade Center. "It's all about marketing, all about PR, all about them making money," Regenhard told AFP. "The Freedom Tower isn't going to be One World Trade Center, it's going to be the Freedom Tower," he said in comments broadcast on NY1 television. "I think One and Two World Trade Center are sacred names which should never be used again," said Pataki.

Finally! Something I Can Support Obama On

What better use for our National Guard then to Guard our NATION?

This could stop not only the violence, but the illegal immigrations from Mexico, the drugs themselves and stop arms from leaking out.

This is a WONDERFUL idea!

clipped from www.foxnews.com Obama Considering Deploying Troops to U.S.-Mexico Border President Obama tells regional reporters it is "unacceptable if you've got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing U.S. citizens."  President Obama says he's considering whether to deploy National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, after Texas Gov. Rick Perry made an urgent call fort 1,000 more "boots on the ground" to deal with the growing violence.  The top Republican on the House of Representatives' appropriations committee criticized the Defense Department on Tuesday for not making the situation in Mexico as big a priority as Afghanistan.  Rep. Jerry Lewis, a Republican, said the situation in Mexico is far more important than Afghanistan at this point. "We need to raise this to a higher level," Lewis told The Associated Press.  Perry said late last month that he was asking the Department of Homeland Security for extra resources and troops.  Obama suggested to regional reporters Wednesday that he's taking a cautious approach.

Quotable Quotes

If you were expecting quotes from the movie "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Next", sorry to disappoint. As long as you're here however, why don't you explore - take a look around my blog and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Jennifer

If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-Mark Twain
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress.... But then I repeat myself.
-Mark Twain
I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-George Bernard Shaw
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-G. Gordon Liddy
Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-Douglas Casey
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it . If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan (1986)
I don't make jokes... I just watch the government and report the facts.
-Will Rogers
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-P.J. O'Rourke
In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-Voltaire (1764)
Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-Pericles (430 B.C.)
No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-Mark Twain (1866 )
Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-Larry Nevels (2008)
The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-Mark Twain
What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-Thomas Jefferson

3/3/09 - Math Geek Love Fest!

clipped from news.yahoo.com 3/3/09: Math fans to celebrate Square Root Day Square Root Day is upon us. The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine). "These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event. The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event. Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol. The last such day was five years ago, Feb. 2, 2004, which coincided with Groundhog Day. The next is seven years away, on April 4, 2016.

The 10th Amendment

"If we are to have a free society for the future, we must reign in this out-of-control federal government, and return to our Constitution; with a special emphasis on the limitations imposed on government by the Tenth Amendment."

There are many bills before the States right now that want to re-affirm the 10th Amendment...basically to let the Federal government know that not everyone wants or needs a 'nanny government' to watch over our every move.

If you think the 10th Amendment applies, contact your state reps and find out what they are doing to curtail the feds from taking over our lives.

clipped from www.populistamerica.com "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Constitution applies to the federal government.  Its sole purpose was to spell out what the government can do. key principle of the Constitution is quite simple: positive grant. What it means is this - the US federal government is authorized to exercise only those powers which are specifically given to it in the Constitution. Nothing more, and nothing less. For many, many years, we've allowed our politicians to interpret and bend the rules of the Constitution; ostensibly for good reasons. But, we have to face reality. When you allow politicians to do this over long periods, eventually you end up with leaders who feel that the law doesn't apply at all. reign in this out-of-control federal government, Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

More Unfair Taxing Proposed

Living in a rural area without access to public transportation, this would be horribly unfair. On an average, I drive 40 miles each way to work. It's 90% highway miles in a car that gets about 30 mpg. As it is, I fill up the 15 gal tank at least twice a week, sometimes more. If the system changes, people living in urban areas will pay the least (if they avail themselves of public transport or live close to work) but, as history shows, will benefit the most from road improvements. State roads tend to be the last repaired when compared to city streets, federal highways. And lord help you if you live on a dirt road!

Nope, not a fair solution at all.

Personally, I favor toll roads. People who use the roads pay for the upkeep -- especially the large trucks that are so hard on them.

Also, states should be forced to use materials that will last! That cold patch junk is useless. Black top should be thick enough to stand up to the weather.

clipped from www.cbsnews.com Taxing Miles Driven Instead Of Gas Burned? (AP) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn. Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects. drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers. Besides a vehicle miles traveled tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options,

Who to Believe?

You see the ads on TV, in the popular magazines. They describe 'Exactly' how you feel. The finally understand your pain! Now all you have to do is bring this information to your poor, uninformed doctor. He's been out of school for a long time and probably hasn't seen the ads on TV explaining that the perfect drug for you is just a scribbled prescription away. Your salvation is at hand!

The only problem is, the drug company has an agenda. Profits.

The drug may have side effects that are worse than your illness. It may not work for you at all. Your insurance (if you're lucky enough to have insurance) may not cover the cost. You may not even have the condition they describe so well.

Fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of convenience: when all the other tests are negative, this is the diagnosis. But don't tell that to the drug companies...they have your best interests at heart...

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com Drugmakers’ push boosts ‘murky’ ailment WASHINGTON - Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions — including whether it’s a real disease at all. Fibromyalgia draws skepticism for several reasons. The cause is unknown. There are no tests to confirm a diagnosis. Many patients also fit the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and other pain ailments. Experts don’t doubt the patients are in pain. They differ on what to call it and how to treat it. But critics say the companies are hyping fibromyalgia along with their treatments, and that the grantmaking is a textbook example of how drugmakers unduly influence doctors and patients. Drugmakers respond to skepticism by pointing out that fibromyalgia is recognized by medical societies, including the American College of Rheumatology.

Study: Avoid routine X-rays for back pain

Part of patient education and responsibility should include all diagnostic tests. Weighing the risks/rewards can only happen when the physician is upfront and honest. If a test will not give an answer, it should not be ordered. Exposure to radiation coupled with the high costs associated with unnecessary tests should fall under the 'Do no harm' mantra.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com WASHINGTON - Routine use of costly X-ray, MRI and CT scans on patients with lower back pain may be unnecessary and, in the case of two of the tests, expose people to low-dose radiation, researchers said. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people visit a doctor or miss work. Experts say while most patients have no serious underlying condition causing the pain, doctors often immediately order imaging procedures that can check for problems like herniated disks, muscle injuries, arthritis or broken bones. "Some clinicians still do lumbar-spine imaging routinely or without a clear indication, possibly because they aim to reassure their patients and themselves, to meet patient expectations about diagnostic tests," or other reasons, the researchers wrote. Patients who insist on having an imaging procedure should be told of their limited usefulness, Kochen added.

13 Things To Keep To Yourself At Work

Going to the article will give great examples of each. What an eye-opener!

clipped from www.cnn.com Do you know what TMI is? Chances are you're either guilty of it or have been its victim. It stands for "too much information" and it's making daily life awkward for people across the country. 1. Medical history: 2. Confidential work information: 3. Plans to quit: 4. Online venting sites: 5. Matters of the heart: 6. Politics: 7. Salary information: 8. Religion: 9. Your privileged life: 10. Therapy sessions: 11. The Rubik's Cube that is your personal life: 12. Gossip: 13. Your Chris Rock routine: If you haven't suffered through one of these conversations, your time will come ... or you are a walking diary. Painful chitchat on a train is one thing, but workplace TMI is its own monster. At work, oversharing can damage your reputation, make your co-workers avoid you in the hallway and even damage your career. Here are 13 things you shouldn't share while on the clock:

Many, Many Steps Backwards

This is and will be a huge step backward for all involved, but especially for women.

Where is the outcry?

Allowing the Taliban even a small foothold will be a monumental mistake.

clipped from www.cnn.com Pakistani government does deal with Taliban on sharia law Story Highlights Pakistani Taliban's interpretation of sharia includes banning girls from school Deal with the Taliban comes after a visit by U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke Taliban: 10-day cease-fire in Swat Valley is good-will gesture towards government Critics warn that previous dealings with the Taliban have allowed it to regroup Next Article in World » It marks a major concession by the Pakistani government in its attempt to hold off Taliban militants who have terrorized the region with beheadings, kidnappings, and the destruction of girls' schools. Sharia is defined as Islamic law but is interpreted with wide differences depending on the various sects of both Sunni and Shia Islam. He said the government's decision amounts to a marriage of convenience made under duress. Pakistan's military operation in the region is unpopular among Pakistanis, but efforts to deal diplomatically with militants have not worked in the past.

More From the Article About Martyrs

"The world’s 2.1 billion Christians are a religious minority in eighty-seven countries. The Geneva Report of 2002 estimates that up to 200 million Christians are being denied their full human rights, as defined by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, simply because they are Christians. Since 2000, there have been forty countries where at least one verifiable death attributable to anti-Christian violence has occurred.
In Saudi Arabia, it is considered a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews. Apostasy from Islam warrants a death sentence. The Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks for elementary and secondary school children demonize Christians, Jews, and non-Wahhabi Muslims. The reports of harassment, surveillance, arrest, and torture of Christians in Saudi Arabia are too numerous to relate in this article.
The situation in India has become particularly problematic. According to the All India Catholic Union, a Catholic rights group, there have already been more 200 episodes of anti-Christian violence this year perpetrated by Hindu extremist groups. Among these acts are the gang rape of two Christian women, the murder of missionaries and priests, sexual assaults on nuns, ransacking of churches and convents, desecration of cemeteries, and Bible burnings.
The past year in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, saw three Catholic high school girls captured on their way to school and beheaded, a Christian market bombed, and the president of the country refusing to overturn a controversial death sentence looming over the heads of three Catholic men. International groups have recorded 134 reports of violence perpetuated against Christians by extremist groups since 2000, including church bombings, altar desecration, killings, and false imprisonments.
“Christians are, in fact, the most persecuted religious group in the world today, with the greatest number of victims,” reports Nina Shea.
“The most atrocious human rights abuses are committed against Christians solely because of their religious beliefs and activities—atrocities such as torture, enslavement, rape, imprisonment, killings, and even crucifixion. Roman Catholics, together with Protestant evangelicals, are the prime targets.”
Religious freedom is pivotal to a free society. Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is the prerequisite for the exercise of all other basic human rights. . . . Where religious freedom is denied, so, too, are other basic human rights.

So the next time you think to tell me how wrong I am to believe in God, to trust that the Bible is truth, to pray for this country - remember that people are actually dying for these beliefs.

You don't have to believe, but can you stand by and allow others to be killed, maimed or imprisoned just because they believe? Because they pray? Because they try to improve the lives of people around them? So many people on this forum are quick to judge other countries treatment of certain groups. When will you defend the rights of these people?

The Greatest Story Never Told: Modern Christian Martyrdom

I'm not Catholic, just Christian. I decided to look this up because my faith comes under constant ridicule - called into question daily. Persecution does not require that I be physically beaten or killed. Verbal abuse seems to be rampant, not only on Clipmarks, but in general.

How soon before verbal attacks progress to physical attacks? It's happening all over the world already.

clipped from www.catholic.com Dying for Christ seems almost surreal to most Westerners. We live in a part of the world where Christianity rarely makes the news unless it is to be mocked or defamed. Otherwise, the media is strangely silent about modern Christian martyrdom. “Three things distinguish anti-Christian persecution and discrimination around the world,” said Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “First, it’s ugly. Second, it’s growing. And third, the mass media generally ignore or downplay its gravity.” The secular West has been looking the other way for a very long time. Even the average church-going Christian is not likely to know that 45.5 million of the estimated 70 million Christians who have died for Christ did so in the last century. While Christians in the secular West languish in spiritual mediocrity, Christianity remains a deadly serious matter almost everywhere else on the planet. Christians are a religious minority

What Will They Come Up With Next???

I LOVE Snopes.com...If you get an email that is just too weird, too good to be true, just too awful...it's usually bogus. Every once in a while, something is actually true, or a mixture of truth and lies. Snopes checks them out and tells the truth.

It's a fun site just to play around on when nothing else catches your interest.

Enjoy.

clipped from www.snopes.com 25 Hottest Urban Legends This page compiles the 25 urban legends currently circulating most widely, as determined by frequency of access, user searches, reader e-mail, and media coverage. Tuesday, January 27, 2009 Obama Acceptance Speech Virus Cell Phone Directory and Telemarketers Microsoft / AOL Giveaway Mail Server Report Swiffer WetJet   809 Area Code Scam #77 or *677 Cell Phone Notification Remus Reid #-9-0 Phone Scam Evan Trembley Pimple Ball Dog Toy Jury Duty Scam Applebee's Gift Certificates   Nancy Pelosi http: vs. https:   PPA Recall Alert   Reverse PIN Panic Code   Luke Air Force Base 'Life Is Beautiful' Virus Reachelle Marie Smith Burundanga Business Cards   Juval Aviv Jane Fonda and POWs Freedom of Choice Act Joshua Bell

Do you know people like this?

LOL - I just loved this!

clipped from my.yahoo.com

Reality Check

Listening to the news programs gush and fawn all week has left me slightly nauseated.

The reality is that more than 59 MILLION voters did not vote for Obama.

So, we'll see...

clipped from en.wikipedia.org Barack Obama 69,456,897 52.9% John McCain 59,934,786 45.7%

Student Loans

clipped from my.yahoo.com

Can You Imagine this Happening In the US?

I know people that call the doctor and if they have to wait 2 days for an appointment, will just go to the ER. And if you need a specialist (and it's not an emergency) a patient may wait 30 days or so.

But can you imagine if you had to wait over a YEAR??? And that's just for the consult.

The article doesn't say how long before procedures or surgery can be scheduled.

When we talk about Health Care Reform in the States, we picture something along the lines of cradle to grave care with the government footing the bill. Kinda like Denmark. Nice but it won't happen here.

A program like that in Ireland or England or even Canada would cause more protests than the Iraq war.

clipped from www.irishtimes.com Patients wait 480 days for appointment Figures produced as part of the pilot "HealthStat" programme, which compares performance in different hospitals, show that the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick had some of the longest average waiting times, among larger hospitals, for a consultant clinic outpatient appointment, writes Martin Wall The figures for the end of October reveal that the average waiting time for an appointment at a consultant clinic from the time of referral by a GP was 480 days in Limerick. However, within specific specialties in the hospital the waiting time for an outpatient appointment was longer. The figures show that the average waiting time for an outpatient department appointment to see a general surgeon was 600 days. At St James's in Dublin the average waiting time for an outpatient appointment to see a consultant was 100 days. In general hospitals, which would have fewer specialties, the picture for waiting times to see a consultant was also mixed.